FRUSTRATED head coach Carl Hogg was left to rue Worcester Warriors’ missed chances after letting slip a lead to draw 24-24 with Connacht in the European Challenge Cup at Sixways.

A Perry Humphreys double and further tries from Sam Lewis and Josh Adams saw Warriors establish a 24-14 advantage at half-time.

But Hogg felt his side failed to convert several “clear-cut” try-scoring opportunities in the first period to open up an even greater lead.

“After the first 40 minutes we were in the box seat and played particularly well,” Hogg said.

“Our intensity and accuracy were excellent.

“But we had clear-cut chances to go three or four tries in front in that first half period so that’s frustrating.

“We target our home games so to not come away with a win was disappointing.”

Leading 12-0 courtesy of Humphreys and Lewis tries, Warriors suffered a blow on 16 minutes when Chris Pennell was sin-binned for a trip – and Connacht made their numerical advantage count.

John Muldoon and Niyi Adeolokun went over either side of Humphreys’ breakaway score to cut back the deficit.

It was then the visitors’ turn to get in referee Alexandre Ruiz’s book as Quinn Roux and Jarrad Butler saw yellow at the end of the first half.

But Warriors could only muster a converted Adams try while Connacht were down to 13 men – and they were made to pay for it.

Craig Ronaldson landed a penalty before converting Tiernan O'Halloran’s 60th minute try to snatch a draw and secure Connacht’s place in the quarter-finals.

Warriors will now have to go to Brive in the final group game next Saturday aiming to get a victory to progress to the knockout stages for the first time since 2009.

“We had two or three clear-cut opportunities in the first half,” said Hogg whose side also missed two conversions and a penalty.

“If we had nailed one or two of them we would have been further ahead but it wasn’t to be and credit to Connacht.

“They scored two tries when we lost Chris to the yellow card and in the second half they dominated possession.

“At half-time we talked about holding them down in the back end of the field in their half, getting our line speed high, getting our collisions high and forcing errors out of them.

“We know Connacht like to hold onto the ball, but we backed our defence to be able to turn the ball over and we weren’t able to achieve that.

“When we did have the ball we made one or two errors that allowed Connacht to control possession again.

“You have got to give Connacht some credit though.

“They went down to 13 men and played just keep-ball rugby.

“We couldn’t turn them over and that’s very frustrating.”